


Sound of Silence

by Zisk



Category: Galaxy Quest (1999)
Genre: And want to see more with them, Even if it's just me in this raft by myself, Gen, Gender-Neutral pronouns for Gorignak, Gorignak is so Done, I just love the large rock person, Search for peace, Setting and achieving goals, Space Adventure, Space Pirates, Species' language is... different, Train Heist, alright?, but nothing graphic, slightly canon divergent, some violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-08
Updated: 2020-09-28
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:53:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26275960
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zisk/pseuds/Zisk
Summary: After being shot out the airlock of the Protector, Gorignak has discovered true peace for the first time in the silence of space. Of course, nothing lasts forever. The only question is what will Gorignak have to do to get back to it?
Comments: 2
Kudos: 3





	1. Chapter 1

The silence stretched on forever.  
The being composed of boulders- strung together by some force no one on the ship they had just been expelled from could explain- floated, rotating slowly. If they had a face that more closely resembled a human’s their eyes would have been closed, muscles relaxed in a way that telegraphed both relaxation and radiant joy. The being was called Gorignak, or Rock, or a host of other names used by others to refer to them. Their real name, the one they used, was the sound of boulders cascading down a mountain and getting progressively smaller until it was the sound of trickling sand. It had been ages since anyone had called them by that name, their people were a solitary sort. They would have rather their name been silence, the rumbling buzz of voices in the air wasn’t as painful as vibrations through the ground but it still hurt, but Gorignak was short and would do if it had to.  
They spun in lazy circles, no breezes or gravity to change their movement or cause it to halt. This… This was the dream. No noise, no vibrations, no pain, just silence.  
That had been the problem with the Epsilon Gorniar II. The sand had obscured so much of the noise, muffling and dampening vibrations until it was almost bearable, but the rocks… The rocks transmitted every movement for miles, loud and clear. Every step a vibration that rang through the rocks and straight to the head of every one of their people. Most of them had migrated into the deep deserts as far as they could get from any other living being, even their own kind. They had set up near the abandoned mine, before the little blue people had moved in, before they had learned to summon with their infernal stamping. Their tiny feet pounding against the rocks, their shrill voices in the air, would reverberate through their head for hours afterwards.  
This endless silence was a balm, making up for every shout and every heel colliding with a pebble. A dream they had never thought to see realized.  
The cold, the lack of oxygen, neither of them posed problems. The pressure might have been an issue if they were a little older, a little more cracked, but as it stood it merely felt like an extended hug (or it would have, if they knew what a hug felt like and had the comparison to make). But the silence…  
The silence stretched on, and on. They spun slowly, feet over head over feet, the horizon stretching on forever in every direction. Stars glittered, distant planets spun on their axis, and everything was silent.  
Time was passing, although one could not tell how much. There was no sun setting or rising, no clock to watch, no ebb and flow of anything to set a timekeeping method by. They were not concerned about the passage of time. There was no wind here, no water, to wear down their body. Nothing to exploit the cracks already there.  
They could have floated there, in the silence, forever.  
The sound of boulders cascading down a mountain and getting progressively smaller until it was the sound of trickling sand, Rock, Gorignak, was finally happy.  
Of course, nothing truly lasts.  
Some time after Gorignak had been jettisoned from the ship, perhaps days or perhaps years, something flickered to life on the horizon. Gorignak watched with detached interest as they spun, a distant oddly colored star drew closer and closer before finally resolving into a ship. It was not large, perhaps a quarter the size of the Protector. As the ship drew closer, Gorignak began to frown.  
When the tractor beam locked on to them, Gorignak’s frown solidified.  
The ship was loud. The ship was loud and solid and full of figures that made noise, pointing at Gorignak and talking loudly to each other. After the extended silence of space the sounds were deafening and Gorignak dropped to their knees, wrapping their arms around their head.  
The crew of the ship had a deceptively easy time moving them to a cell.  
Gorignak lay on the floor of the cell for a long time, slowly transitioning from a pain so sharp it was nearly blinding to an ache in their head that was barely tolerable if they didn’t focus on it. The constant rumble of the ship’s engines, the distant chatter of the crew, was like a thin spike driven into Gorignak’s head.  
If they could have cried, they would have.  
Time passed, as it does, and the constant sound surrounding them became bearable if only from the constant exposure lending it a sense of familiarity.  
And with that constant exposure came the familiar anger, unspooling in what passed for Gorignak’s gut. They had been happy, they had found peace, and these bipedal simpletons had pulled them from paradise. Gorignak looked around the small cage they had been thrown in, beginning to frown again. And for what? To what end had this crew pulled them out of space and confined them? To sell them as a novelty in some market, as a fighter in some gladiatorial arena?  
Gorignak pushed the pain as far down as they could, attempting to rise to their full height and finding that they had to stoop a little. They reached out, gripping two of the cage bars, and pulled.  
The first of the crew they found was startled, wide-eyed and reaching for their blaster as Gorignak shoved their soft skull into the wall and kept walking. The next one got a shot off before Gorignak hit them, the shot went wild and took out a light. They didn’t get off a second shot. The third one managed to warn the rest, slowing Gorignak’s progress through the ship but not stopping it entirely. Blood smeared walls and unmoving bodies lead a trail to the bridge. Gorignak tossed the last of the crew out of the door, turning to regard the wide windows for a moment.  
They loomed over the control panel, lights and knobs and levers laid out before them in an array that they were unfamiliar with. Gorignak sighed, hands hesitating over the broad panel.  
Finally, hands balled into fists, Gorignak brought them crashing down onto the buttons. They pulled levers, they cranked knobs, they broke chunks off the panel and sent them flying towards the door. Lights began to flash, alarms rang, and Gorignak tore the panel to pieces.  
Nothing opened the windows, nothing sent Gorignak shooting back out into the great silence, and the planet the ship had been slowly approaching seemed to be picking up speed. Or perhaps it was the ship picking up speed. Either way the end result was the same- the ship crashed on the planet’s surface and Gorignak rose from the smoking bulk of it.  
Gorignak stared upwards, seeking the silent expanse that was now miles and an atmosphere away from them, and rumbled in displeasure.  
Vibrations through the ground and sounds floating through the air indicated a nearby settlement. A settlement meant ships, ships meant space, and Gorignak began to make their way towards the vibrations.


	2. Chapter 2

The bar was loud, and dark, and populated. Beings of all shapes and makes wandered about, talking in small quiet groups or laughing loudly in larger ones. Gorignak hesitated just inside the door, stooped slightly, steeling themself against the sudden increase in vibrations. A brief lull fell over the room, as beings fell quiet to glance at them before resuming their conversations, some of them continuing to cast quick glances their way.  
Gorignak made their way further into the room, casting their gaze about for someone that looked like they might be a pilot.  
Three feet in, the crowd parted in a wave to allow them passage. Five feet in and they flowed back together to close off their exit.  
They wandered the room, expression slowly falling into a frown. The bar was thunderously noisy, the floor feeling like an earthquake from so many feet, and while they were sure there were pilots they had yet to see a face that wasn’t calculating a price when they looked up.  
Their way forward was cut off, blocked by a figure that barely came up to their chest. The figure drew a deep breath to inflate itself, jutting the tusks coming from its jaw forward, and jabbed Gorignak in the chest with two fingers.  
“An’ just what are you supposed to be?” The figure slurred, scowling. Gorignak regarded them silently.  
This seemed to displease the figure, as it jabbed its fingers against Gorignak again. Gorignak did not enjoy the vibrations the jabbing sent through their body, and straightened as much as the ceiling would allow. Gorignak lifted their hand, preparing to bring it down on top of the figure, which was saying something Gorignak had ceased listening to.  
Another figure, this one even smaller, stepped between them. This figure’s mouth was open, lips pulled back to reveal shining teeth, and it had a hand wrapped around its braided hair.  
“No problems, here, right friends?” The smaller figure called, swinging their attention between the tusked figure and Gorignak. Gorignak raised a pebbled eyebrow. The tusked figure turned their attention to the smaller one, puffing up again and raising a fist. Gorignak reached out, prepared to bat them away, but the smaller figure moved faster than anticipated and knocked the tusked figure to the floor.  
There was a commotion beside them. The hairy figure standing behind the bar was leaning forward, obviously distressed. “No fights in my bar, Reese, you take that outside.”  
“No fights, no fights.” Reese raised their hands, continuing to expose their teeth. “He just tripped. Had a few to drink, ey?”  
The figure behind the bar frowned before gesturing to Gorignak. “Your friend going to buy a drink, or just take up half the room?”  
“Drink.” Reese ducked their head before turning back to Gorignak. “You speak common?”  
Deep in their chest, Gorignak released a shower of pebbles, cascading down in a hiss. Reese blinked, startled, before exposing their teeth further and tapping a small black device tucked in their ear.  
“Close enough. You drink?” They asked.  
Gorignak grated two rocks in their shoulder together.  
“Water it is.” Reese nodded, passing the bartender something shiny in exchange for a glass of clear water, before leading Gorignak to a corner booth and another figure. This one was superficially similar to Reese, seated and looking decidedly unimpressed.  
Reese slid onto a seat, gesturing between themself and the new figure. “I’m Charise, everyone calls me Reese. This is my co-pilot, Len.”  
Gorignak hunched next to the table, silent.  
“You got a name, buddy?” Len asked, leaning back and taking a long sip of their drink.  
The stones in Gorignak’s chest fell, followed by sand.  
Reese tipped their head. “I like that, got a certain flare to it.” They sipped their drink. “My throat can’t do that, though, you cool if we just call you Rock?”  
Something in Gorignak’s shoulder made a grinding sound and Reese nodded.  
“’Preciated.” Reese took another sip of their drink and Len rolled their eyes at the pilot, looking past Gorignak at the rest of the bar. “What brings you all the way out here? I know Ano’s got some good drink specials, but nothing worth crossing the galaxy over.”  
Gorignak hesitated for a long moment before replying, the trickle of sand released in their chest followed by a series of rocks striking each other. They raised an eyebrow.  
“What luck.” Reese leaned forward, exposing their teeth again. “I happen to have a ship. A pretty good one, if I do say so myself.” They took a long sip as Gorignak felt the first stirrings of something that might have been hope. “No one rides for free, though. You got credit?”  
A pair of rocks clacked in Gorignak’s thigh.  
“You hear this?” Reese laughed, nudging Len. “’What’s credit’. You seem like the good sort, I’d hate to leave you high and dry out here so I’ll make you a deal. We’ve got a job coming up we could use an extra pair of hands with. You come with us, help us out, we’ll make sure you get where you need to go. What d’you say?”  
Gorignak was silent with irritation for a long moment, a ‘job’ could only mean more noise and vibrations, before grudgingly grating their shoulder.  
Reese lit up. “Fantastic.” They held up their cup, clacking it against Gorignak’s before taking a long swig.  
Len’s attention flickered between Gorignak and the cup of water, eyebrow slowly raising. “You gonna drink to the deal?”  
Gorignak threw back the glass of water, thoroughly dousing their chest in the liquid, much to Reese’s delight.


	3. Chapter 3

The Pegasus was an old ship and the closer you looked the more you realized it was mostly held together by patches, but it was spacious and made it out of the planet’s atmosphere without a problem. In addition to Reese and Len, there was Yu’wa, introduced as the mechanic, and Pi, introduced as the tech specialist. Yu’wa’s name was actually Yu’wa, it was a sound her mouth could produce, whereas Pi’s name was a short series of squelches and bubbling that the other crew members couldn’t reproduce. Reese and Len, it turned out, were a pair of Drythian siblings. Yu’wa was a Terrakian, and whatever Pi was didn’t come through the translator attached to his neck correctly (it kept saying ‘squid’ which was followed by an eyeroll and something that was universally a curse from Pi).  
The reason this was relevant, much to Gorignak’s annoyance, was that Yu’wa was intensely interested in the genealogy of the ship. Using the crew’s species had not smoothed the way into grilling Gorignak the way she had hoped, however.  
“I don’t understand.” She sighed, leaning towards Gorginak. “Is it simply that the translator is broken?”  
Gorginak tugged on the translator Reese had insisted on attaching to their neck. “No. I am Rock.”  
“Obviously.” Yu’wa waved her hand dismissively. “But what are you? Is there no name for your people?”  
“Rock.” Gorignak tugged a little harder, earning a reproachful look from Reese.  
“If you break that thing, you’re buying another one.” Reese called, turning her attention back to cleaning her rifle.  
“Your name is Rock, but your people are also Rock?” Yu’wa tipped her head.  
Gorginak poked the translator, a little softer. It beeped. “I am called Gorignak. My people are Rock.”  
Reese looked back up, frowning, and Yu’wa grinned.  
“Now we’re getting somewhere! Where are your people from?” Yu’wa asked.  
“The rock.” Gorignak shrugged.  
Yu’wa groaned, tipping her head towards the ceiling before a look of understanding flickered across her face. “Your people haven’t gotten off-planet yet, have they?”  
Gorignak shook their head.  
“Then why have you?”  
Reese clapped her hands, drawing their attention. “Alright, Yu’wa, that’s enough interrogation. I know old habits die hard and you’re obsessed with charting the universe’s denizens, but Fresh-Off-The-Farm isn’t going to give you any answers you want.” Yu’wa frowned but fell silent, leaning back in her chair and sipping from her drink.  
Reese turned her attention back to cleaning the rifle in her lap. Gorignak leaned back, enjoying the lack of air-vibrations.  
Len emerged from the cockpit after a while, sitting down next to his sister. “Are we going over the plan?”  
She shrugged. “Soon. I want us all in one room, and Pi’s still working on fine-tuning that scrambler.” She checked the scope on her rifle, nodding to herself.  
Len groaned, tipping his head back to rest it against the wall.  
Pi arrived some time later, nodding to Reese before sitting down.  
Reese slid the pistol she’d been checking over back into its holster and glanced around the room before grinning. “Alright, now that we’re all here. Our upcoming job is brought to you by the number two- two parts and two teams. Part one- train heist. We steal a train car full of beryllium spheres. Part two- kidnapping. Our intel says Wellick Vendan is on the same train, and the bounty on him recently went up. Team one is Pi and Gorignak, you’re on the heist. Team two is Len and me, getting Vendan. Yu’wa, you’re flying.”  
“Wouldn’t that make it three teams?” Yu’wa raised an eyebrow.  
Reese scowled. “Don’t mess with my symmetry. We’re all dropping onto the train car. Len’s going to stick the radio scrambler on the next car up and we’ll go looking for Vendan. Pi and Gorignak, get inside and deal with the guards, then hook the car up to the Pegasus. Len and I will come back with Vendan, we grab the scrambler, we de-couple from the train, and Yu’wa flies us off.”  
Reese pressed a button on her bracelet and a holographic map popped up in the middle of the room. A bright red line followed the curves of the train track and she stepped closer to point at locations on the map. “We’re going to be waiting here, in the mountains. When the train reaches this blind curve, here, we move. They’re going to see us, but the curve will buy us a little time.”  
Len leaned forward. “While you’re on the car, try to be as quiet as you can. We’re going to be hitting those guards just before shift change, they won’t be fresh. We’ll be out long before the next round show up for duty. Pi, Gorignak, don’t damage the spheres.” Len frowned. “Pi, how’s that scrambler?”  
Pi shrugged two of his tentacles. “It’s good, as long as it’s on the train they won’t be able to call out.”  
“And after we pull it?” Len leaned forward.  
“It’ll take them some time to reboot before they can get a call out.”  
“Perfect.” Reese grinned. “After lift-off, we’re flying to this valley-“ Reese pointed at another spot on the map- “so we can get everything moved over to the ship and drop the train car.”  
“Sounds straight-forward.” Yu’wa snorted.  
Len frowned. “We had no way of knowing last time was going to go sideways.”  
Yu’wa rolled her eyes. “We’re pirates, the job always goes sideways.”  
“Questions?” Reese asked, clapping her hands.  
Gorignak rolled their shoulders, leaning further back in the chair as the four fell to hashing out details and bickering. Their air vibrations were an annoyance, the rumbling of the ship a louder one. The only thing making it bearable, the only thing keeping Gorignak from repeating the motions from the last ship they’d been on, was the knowledge that after this they’d be free and no one would come looking for them. They could point to a spot in deep space, away from shipping lanes or inhabited planets, and Reese would leave them there.  
The infinite silence was so close.


	4. Chapter 4

The first few steps went off without a hitch. Yu’wa dropped the teams off on the last train car before falling back. Reese and Len slapped the scrambler onto the next car up and disappeared into the train. Pi gave a long-suffering sigh, one tentacle wrapped around the door handle on the last car, and looked at Gorignak.  
“You know, I started doing tech work for them so I’d stop getting assigned to be the muscle.” He rolled his eyes before yanking the door open stepping into the darkness, his arrival met with distressed yelling.  
Gorignak waded in behind him, shutting the door before turning to asses the situation.  
There were easily a dozen guards arrayed the room, interspersed with secured beryllium spheres. Well, ten guards arrayed around the room and two guards struggling in Pi’s tentacles. They stopped struggling as Pi brought their heads together with a thick crack, tossing them aside in favor of the next closest. Gorignak slipped past him, turning their attention to the rapidly approaching pair of guards and relishing the opportunity to work out some of their recent frustrations in a more… physical manner.  
Clearing the train car didn’t take them very long.  
Pi and Gorignak climbed back onto the roof of the car, Gorignak waving enthusiastically to Yu’wa and the Pegasus while Pi dangled himself over the edge of the car and carefully attached the magnetic points they were attaching the transport ropes to. Yu’wa paced the train, lowering a bundle of cables that were attached in short order, before drifting back as far as the cables would allow. If you were paying attention, the ship and its connections were still visible, but if you were just taking a cursory glance out the window…  
“Any sign of the gruesome twosome?” Yu’wa’s voice crackled over their earpieces.  
“Not yet. Hang tight, we’re going to stay out of sight in the car.” Pi waved before sliding back down the front of the car, Gorignak close behind.  
They inspected the spheres for any damages (none) and the straps for any wear or improper installation (also none). They inspected the car for any hidden guards, that would pop out at the eleventh hour and foil their plans (still none). They inspected the spheres again.  
Giving the last of the securing lines a solid tug, again, Pi turned to Gorignak with a frown. “I feel something may be amiss.”  
The door to the car opened with a hiss and Pi sighed, looking from Gorignak to the door with something akin to a relieved grin. His face fell.  
Gorignak turned. Just inside the door clustered a group of very surprised, but increasingly angry, guards. Gorignak tipped their head, calculating, before leaning forward and barreling full-tilt into them. The guards fell backwards out the still-open door, falling off to either side of the train car, and Gorignak barely brought themselves to a stop against the railing between cars. They turned, finding Pi watching them in startled silence.  
“That was… anti-climactic.” Pi said after a long moment.  
“That was the shift change. They should have been back by now.” Gorignak gestured to the train. “Has something gone wrong?”  
“I-“ Pi shook his head, recovering from his surprise. “I don’t know, but if it’s taking them this long then probably. We should-“ He fell silent, blinking, as Gorignak disappeared into the next train car. “I suppose I’ll just watch the spheres, then.” He sighed to himself.  
If Gorignak’s eyes had lids, they would have been half-closed in an irritated glare. As it was, their frown was truly frightening, sending the handful of passengers that poked their heads out of their compartments scurrying to close the doors before they passed. The first two cars passed without incident or sign of the siblings and their quarry. The third car yielded a pair of luckless guards that stood no chance against the rocky figure cutting its way through the train.  
Gorignak was frustrated.  
First, they had been snatched from paradise by some opportunistic bounty hunters and shoved back into a loud ship. Then, they’d crash-landed on a loud planet with a louder bar, and the only pilot that looked like they wouldn’t pull a double-cross insisted on this ridiculous job. So they’d ridden on a loud ship, with a loud crew, onto a louder train, and the siblings couldn’t even manage a simple kidnapping which was only serving to lengthen the amount of time Gorignak was stuck on this deafening contraption and not flying back to the silence.  
Gorignak’s head hurt. The two sets of guards had been a nice frustration outlet, but now they really wanted something to punch. More than that, they wanted to find the wayward incompetents and carry the three of them back to the ship so they could get off this train.  
The door to the fourth car opened and Gorignak was treated to the sight of the siblings being held, bloody and at gun point, while someone, presumably Vendan, pointed at them and yelled to a collection of guards. Everyone looked up at the sound of the door opening, except Vendan who was facing the other way and was continuing to gesture and yell. The sibling’s faces lit up. The guards closest the door retrained their weapons on Gorignak.  
Gorignak sighed. Today was not going well.


	5. Chapter 5

Gorignak, the guards and the siblings stood silent, all staring at each other, as Vendan’s loud and gesture-laden shouting came to slow halt as he realized no one was paying attention to him anymore. He blinked owlishly, turning to look behind him. He took an involuntary step back. Reese was leaning towards Len, a slow red stain spreading across her shirt and a slow grin spreading across her face.  
One of the guards towards the back of the group cleared her throat. “Sorry, there’s been an incident in this car. It’s closed. You’ll have to go back to your compartment until we sort it out.”  
Gorignak didn’t move.  
“You…” She tried again. “You need to return to your compartment.”  
“I don’t remember seeing them boarding.” One of the other guards observed quietly.  
Gorignak straightened, their head barely brushing the ceiling, and took a long step forward.  
The first shot, fired by a young guard that was obviously terrified, caught Gorignak in the shoulder. The second went wild, imbedding itself in the wall near the door. As did the third and fourth. The first guard, also, was imbedded in the wall, followed by the second and third. The fourth and fifth were thrown into a compartment, the sixth out the window, and the seventh elected to run, throwing their blaster to the floor in the process. Reese picked it up, dusting it off on her pant leg before shoving it in her belt.  
“Glad to see you.” She grinned up at Gorignak. “Your timing is-“  
Gorignak stepped forward, reaching into the nearest compartment and hauling out a shouting Vendan. Gorignak bounced his head off the wall, once, and slung him over their shoulder in a fireman’s carry. Vendan was limp, but breathing. Gorignak turned to stare at Reese and Len.  
Reese floundered for a moment, falling silent. Len grinned.  
“Ready to go?” He asked.  
“I want off this train.” Gorignak grated, turning and heading for the door.  
Reese slipped past them, opening the door. Gorignak paused on the landing, allowing Len to go first to ensure a clear path. Reese kept getting the doors.  
“How was clearing out the car?” She asked brightly, halfway down the next car.  
“Fine.”  
“Everything’s hooked up?” She slipped past again, swinging the next door open.  
“Yes.”  
“You left Pi guarding it?” She pulled the door shut, trotting ahead.  
“Yes.”  
She frowned. “Is he going to have trouble with the-“  
“The guard rotation was already taken care of.”  
“Oh, good.”  
“You’re bleeding.” Gorignak observed.  
Reese glanced down, shrugging. “Got a little more roughed up than we’d thought, it’s nothing. She held the next door, studying Vendan as Gorignak walked past. “He’s still breathing?”  
“Yes.”  
“Good. His bounty’s for alive, rather than dead.”  
Gorignak grunted.  
Ahead of them Len waved a blaster, sending the same passengers that had peered at Gorignak diving back into their compartments.  
“I mean, it’s either-or, but alive gets the higher payout.” Reese grinned.  
Gorignak grunted again.  
Reese’s grin dipped into a frown. “Are you upset you came to get us? We would have been fine, just a small set-back.”  
“The train is loud.” Gorignak glanced at her, stepping through the final doorway. Len had the door to the last car open, revealing Pi’s relieved face. Gorignak strode forward, handing Vendan off and turning back to Reese.  
“Please take the scrambler, I will decouple the cars.”  
Reese nodded, popping the scrambler off the wall and disappearing into the last car. Gorignak reached down and, with the horrible screeching of metal twisting, broke the coupling between the train cars. As the car started to slow, the Pegasus came into view overhead. Gorignak stepped back inside the last car and shut the door.  
Loading the ship and dropping the train car was a surprisingly quick process. Pi patched up the cuts and scrapes Len and Reese had from the guards and Yu’wa tossed Vendan in a cage that looked too similar to the one Gorignak had been in.  
Len insisted on flying, Pi disappeared to sleep and Yu’wa vanished into the kitchen for tea.  
As they broke through the atmosphere Reese sat down across from Gorignak, barely visible bandaging wrapped around her side, and tucked her hands between her knees as she studied the tall pile of rocks.  
They sat in silence for a long time before Reese sighed, leaning back. “You did good work back there.”  
Gorignak grunted.  
“If you, ah, if you wanted to stay on, we’d be happy to keep you. We get fairly consistent work, it’s not-“  
“No.” Gorignak cut her off and she frowned.  
“But, shooting yourself into space? That’s not… C’mon, Gorignak, that’s no way for a sentient to be! Stay with us, we’ll take you across the stars.” She grinned up at them.  
Gorignak frowned. “Are you backing out of our deal?”  
Reese bit her lip. “No, I don’t go back on deals, I just-“  
“You are taking me to uninhabited space and letting me leave.” Gorignak leaned forward. “As we agreed.”  
Reese frowned again. “I’m just saying-“  
Gorignak pulled the translator off their neck. There was no soft undercutting hiss of sand, no gentle trickle of pebbles. The sound that emanated from Gorignak’s chest was nothing but the crashing of boulders, the deafening sound of continents splitting from each other and rocks large enough to crush town running rampant down mountainsides.  
Reese paled. “Deep, uninhabited, space. Got it.”  
Gorignak popped the translator back on their neck, raising an eyebrow.  
“And we’re not coming back for you.”  
Gorignak nodded.  
“Right.” Reese stood. “I’ll go set the flight path with Len.” She fled, the slamming of the cockpit door echoing through the ship.  
The vibrations almost seemed less this time, as if having a set end to them lessened their force. The flight was longer than Gorignak wanted, but shorter than it could have been, and it was without a heavy heart that Gorignak dropped the translator into Reese’s hand and stepped into the airlock.  
The crew had clustered around the release button, Pi and Yu’wa waving sadly, Len nodding silently and Reese watching Gorignak go almost mournfully.  
“Are you sure you-“ She started, her words cut off by Gorignak slamming the door close button. Through the glass window they watched her sigh and roll her eyes, a half smile dancing across her lips before she hit the button that would open the outer door.  
The door opened and Gorignak was pulled out, once again shot out into space. They spun, feet over head over feet, and watched the Pegasus get smaller and smaller.  
When it disappeared from sight entirely, Gorginak reached up and crushed the small tracking beacon Reese had tried to secretly slip on them.  
Gorignak relaxed, watching the planets spin and the stars glitter.  
And the silence stretched on forever.


End file.
